New social network might be a load of old sh....

It could all be over for the likes of Facebook, Twitter Google+ and MySpace (well, it already is for MySpace) with the arrival of another new social network, one that could eventually dwarf them all.

It’s slightly different though, and instead of being hooked up with friends, colleagues or like-minded strangers, you’ll be linked according to... your gut bacteria!

MyMicrobes is (apparently) a non-profit program that is inviting people to have their gastrointestinal tract bacteria sequenced... for only $2,100. You pay them, in case you weren’t sure.

Once you’ve registered, you’ll get a stool-sample kit and you’ll send your poo to a lab in Paris where it will be analysed. You’ll get access to your own data but all public results will be anonymous. You’ll also be able to use the site to share health and diet tips as well as gut-based nightmare tales.

The man behind it, Peer Bork, from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany says he’ll need at least 5,000 participants for the study to be meaningful (and raise $1 million). So far he’s got 124. What are you all waiting for??

3 comments

Surely David Cameron gets enough 'shit in an envelope' mail. Perhaps he could forward it on to Peer Bork (incidently, why doesn't he swap the first letters in his first and second names to become 'Beer Pork'... What a name! Too good an oportunity to miss surely?)